This announcement was a huge win for the social entrepreneur, social innovator, public/private partnership community.
Posts Tagged social entrepreneur
For the last two decades organizations like Ashoka.com and the Skoll foundation have promoted and funded social entrepreneurs that work to eliminate social problems in developing countries.
However, as the U.S. economy toughens, and government and non-profit organizations experience budget cuts, American business owners are being asked to subscribe to the philosophy of “doing good by doing well” and proactively step in to make a difference.
Business owners that take on the challenge of using their business as a tool to create solutions to social problems often find themselves building community goodwill, attracting positive press, and gaining a competitive advantage over their competition.
Social Entrepreneurs are innovative thinkers that apply free-market business principles to the challenge of solving social problems. While their efforts are expected to generate profits, their bigger motivation is to transform communities by providing solutions to social problems.
The Annandale Apartments in Tucson, Arizona is an example of an American company applying the principles of social entrepreneurship. This company pays tenants to perform odd jobs around the apartment complex if they become unemployed due to downsizing.
It is important for social entrepreneurs to share their story in many formats in order to keep customers and other supporters engaged.
Here are 5 low-cost or no cost social media tools your organization can use to communicate its message massively and effectively.
Create a Facebook Fan page
Starting a Facebook Fan page is a great way to begin promoting your organization. By setting up a fan page you will be able to strategically promote your organization to millions in the region or demographic of your choice.
Your organization can share information about community involvement, raise money by using the Causes or Chip In application or use the Static FBML application to apply a website-like appearance and functionally in order to increase interaction with page viewers. The Fern Thai Foundation is an excellent example of a Facebook fan page with all of these capabilities.
Meetup groups
Meetup groups make it is possible to take your online activities into the real world by building local communities of people interested in similar topics. There are Meetup Groups established for dog lovers, quilters, and even social entrepreneurs.
Suppose you own a website development company and you wanted to create a stronger sense of family for low-income seniors. You could offer free or discounted internet classes to help bridge the gap between the seniors and younger family members that only use computers to communicate. Since the seniors you’re targeting are not online, it may be advantageous to create a Meetup Group for Gen Xer’s with aging parents.
By hosting this Meetup group your company could build relationships with the family members of seniors, generate revenue from holding monthly events, cultivate new customer relationships with the Gen Xer’s, and most importantly inform them of the courses available for their aging loved ones.
Blogging
Blogging is another important way to share the work your organization is doing. While blogging can take some commitment, it is important to remain consistent and use keywords to increase search engine rankings. Wordtracker.com is an excellent tool for conducting keyword research.
Some of the best online marketer’s blog daily. However, if time is at a premium for you, blogging weekly is better than blogging inconsistently or not at all. Consistent blogs tells the reader that you take your organization seriously. It also causes search engines to increase your rankings because of the new content.
Many successful internet marketers like Derek Alverez, social entrepreneur and founder of Drivetheline.com suggest that you generously share your most valuable content on your blog in order to create a long-term readership.
Use the “Share this” widget
Once you have created a loyal readership for your blog, you want to make sure that reader have the opportunity to share your content with others who may be interested. A simple way to make it easy to share your information is to install the “share this” widget on your blog.
According to wisegeek.com, a widget is a piece of self-enclosed code which can be embedded into a website or program to perform a specific function. The “share this” Widget is just that. You can create the code for your widget in a matter of seconds at Sharethis.com and embed it into your blog. This widget will allow your readers to click the icon of their favorite social networking or social book marking site and instantaneously share content from your blog with their entire social network.
Promote your social media channels everywhere
Applying social media tools to any business model can be time consuming. However, the return on engagement from the content you share can mean the difference between success and failure for your enterprise. A simple way to remind customers, partners, donors, and venders to stay in the conversation about the good work you’re doing is to include links to your social media sites on your business cards, brochures and in your e-mail footer.
The Annondale apartment complex located on 5th Street in Tucson, Arizona has an interesting way of keeping its tenants and ensuring they pay the rent.
They hire them to perform odd jobs around the complex.
According to the apartment manager who didn’t want his name mentioned in this article, “many of the residence are without work, have had their hours cut and are facing tough times. While this is sad, it creates an excellent opportunity to hire affordable labor.”
The monthly rent to live in the Annondale complex is about $15 less than other nearby apartments and are well taken care due to the live in workforce.
Residences at Annondale vacuum, wash window, mow the lawn, clean the laundry room and complete a number of other facility maintenance task.
According to the manager, having the residence work on the property is a win-win proposition. “The tenants win because the work allows maintain their dignity and pay the rent. Annondale wins because their facility’s are well maintained and tenants are more likely to stay longer.”
When I told the manager of Annondale that he was a social entrepreneur, his response was classic. “I never considered myself a social entrepreneur, I just thought I was doing the right thing.”
Yesterday, I participated in the re-launch of the Financial Stability Partnership program held by the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. I learned a great deal from this event. I was inspired by the efforts of the United Way and have committed my time to supporting their work in this area.
As a way of doing this, I have given yesterday’s presentation some thought and prepared a critical analysis of it.
For those of you who are familiar with my writing know that I can sometimes be a bit heavy handed. Trust me, the same is true of this review. However, make no mistake, my intent is not to needlessly criticize, or point blame at anyone.
On the contrary, I would simply like to raise awareness and create new thought and conversation around this subject matter.
Fortunately and Unfortunately, its not possible to do this without being direct.
Lets get started…
So exactly what is the Financial Stability Partnership?
The Financial Stability Partnership is a collaboration of mostly non-profit organizations and some businesses whose goal is to increase the number of individuals and families in Southern Arizona that are financially stable and live above a sustainable income level.
Over the last several years this organization has helped families save money by offering free tax preparation services and assisting eligible families in applying for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to increase their annual return amount.
The FSP has also assisted families living below the poverty level by helping them apply for food stamps, utility assistance and free or discounted healthcare programs. Families participating in this program also, learn about traditional banking products, credit reports and other financial services.
First of all, I must applaud this group for taking on such a large task. This is indeed a worthy cause for a non-profit like the United Way to pursue. I can certainly tell that the men and women running this program are committed to the goals of the program.
However, I in my biased opinion, as a financial planner and social entrepreneur, I believe the model being used to accomplish the aforementioned objectives is neither sustainable nor progressive enough or meet the desired goals.
Before we get into more detail about why currently hold this view point, lets review the program goals once more.
“To increase the number of individuals and families in Southern Arizona that are financially stable and live ABOVE a sustainable income level.”
Just to put this in perspective, being financially stable in Arizona, means that a family lives on an income 200% above the federal poverty level. For a family of 4 this equates to about $44,000 per year.
The $44,000 mentioned in this example does not include things like insurance, retirement accounts, going out to dinner, leaving an inheritance and many other basic quality of life enhancements.
In this example, it is clear that this family is not sustainable because it is not above a sustainable income level. In fact, this family is one pay check or emergency away from being plunged into poverty.
While I agree that the goal established by my local United Way is high, I don’t think it is high enough.
The past successes of our country were not achieved by people setting goals to just get by. This is no different than your kid trying to get a “C” in every class on his report card. We all know what happens when he doesn’t get the “C.” He has to repeat the class.
Repeating the class for the families looking for guidance from the United Way could mean, going back into debt, returning to public assistance programs, or even loosing a home. We must set goals that allow us to thrive. Otherwise why bother.
Why not set a goal of 400 or 500% above the federal poverty level. Is our sample family not smart enough or worthy of earning $80,000-100,000 a year?
Struggling to just get by requires the same amount of creativity, commitment, and energy as making $80,000 a year. So why not choose the latter.
All too often America is the land of opportunity for everyone except her own citizens.
This must change.
In order for this to happen our philosophy must change and we must raise the bar of success for all citizens.
Now, I know that you’re probably wondering exactly how does one meet such a lofty goal.
Here’s the answer. The above results can only be created by leveraging the United Way’s immense network of social capital to increase the financial literary of its constituency.
In other words they must put their biggest most successful donors to work educating program staff and United Way constituents on how they became successful.
If the donors are not willing to put in the sweat equity, then the United Way must gain access to the lessons of the wealthy through successful teachers, books, seminars, and CD’s and make these lessons available to their client base.
It’s not possible to create an extraordinary income with an ordinary understanding of the principles that govern money.
Unfortunately, I would suggest that this is the case with most Americans. Hence, the major economic losses suffered by those who could least afford it -the middle class. Many of which, I would suggest have a grade of “C” when it comes to money and they don’t even know it.
Before going further, lets talk about what financial literacy is NOT. Financial literacy is not about having a class on paying off debt, opening a checking account, or learning how to apply for public assistance programs.
These are indeed important things to know but none of them alone or collectively will increase one’s financial IQ enough to create a sustainable income.
To become financially literate, one must learn the history of money and banking in order to become a master of both as opposed to their slaves.
One must increase self esteem and critical thinking skills in order to have the courage to pursue opportunities and the knowledge to turn them into cash.
One must learn the 4 methods of generating income. A job is only one way. Small business, big business, and investments are the other three ways.
One must understand that paying taxes on W-2 Income or as an employee is the most expensive taxes one can pay. That is why it is advantageous to own a business even if it is part-time in addition to a job.
One must understand the difference between assets and liabilities when making buying decisions. Assets put money in your pocket. Liabilities take money out.
Finally, one must understand asset protection a legacy creation through the use of insurance, wills, corporate entities, trust, etc.
Now, It could be said that “this is not our job of the United Way” or “this stuff is just for the rich”. My response to such statements would be; this is the responsibility of the United Way because they choose this goal. And…how do you think the rich increased their income to become rich?
If the plan is to level the playing fields, then everyone must play with the same rules as the winning team. I’m sure the wealthy are not play with the goal of just getting by. Why should anyone else?
Now, let’s consider the model below used by the FSP. At first glance it looks great. The results are clear and it even uses the phrase “financial literacy” in the arrow below.
However, as you look closer at the circles, the meat of the diagram, you will notice that this model does not reflect the aforementioned critical knowledge areas required to make the desired results a reality.
Having the correct financial IQ is not up for debate. It is a must when it comes to meeting the objectives of the FSP.
The model presented is at best a recipe for mediocrity and limited quality of life due to constant struggle.
I know this sounds harsh but that really isn’t my intent.
There are many models available to create financial stability, created by those who are well respected in the personal finance and wealth education industries. Unfortunately, I don’t think that this model was designed by any of those people.
My suggestion would be to redesign the model and FSP program to include the basic ideologies and philosophy used by the wealthy, not a social model designed to maintain poverty.
The methods of the wealthy are the only methods that have ever been used to produce the results truly desired by the Financial Stability Partnership. I recommend that we all go back to the drawing board.
